NINETEEN
Nyx
It's been a long fucking night, and all I want to do is get out of here and take Raya home.
I know we still have shit that must be hashed out, but I'm beginning to feel like we may actually be able to get past everything.
I'm not sure if it's just a gut feeling or if it's because being inside her makes me lose myself completely, and I have a sense of belonging.
Either way, I am making Saraya Abbott mine once and for all.
I'm reclaiming what should have been mine all these years.
Speaking of my future wife, I frown. She excused herself—I look at my watch—twenty minutes ago to use the restroom.
Glancing around the room as I sit in the VIP section, the Kappel twins are rattling on about their latest tag team conquest from the night before.
My friends and Heirs are scattered throughout our section, indulging in the evening's offerings.
"Nyx, did you even hear a word I said?" Jarod captures my attention.
"Hm? I'm sorry; what were you mumbling about? I lost interest when you started discussing sword crossing with your twin while sharing the woman." My lips twitch, knowing that the twin doesn't like it when I point out the particular parts of his stories.
"Fuck off, Nyx. I swear you only pay attention to the parts when I talk about my dick. Do you have a hard-on for my cock, Mr. Beckam?" Jarod asks in an amusing tone, but regardless, I don't like it.
"If you ever ask me that question again, I will personally cut the fucking thing from your body and shove it down your throat," I threaten in an unamused tone of my own.
"See! There you go again, talking about my dick…"
His twin chuckles but cuts it off the moment I raise a brow at him .
Jax is more respectful of my position than his brother; he's quieter, but it's because he takes everything in.
Jax is brilliant, graduating at the top of our class, and from what I hear, he did the same at the University he went to.
This twin is very cautious of every situation that he encounters, unlike Jarod.
"You know," I say as my attention returns to Jarod. "They say those who talk themselves up tend to be doing so in order to make themselves feel better since they actually lack in that department."
Snickers can be heard from around our alcove, which causes Jarod to blush a little. Lucky for him, the woman now sitting on Cray's lap speaks up for him.
"Although I've had bigger, Mr. Kappel is far from inadequate. He's definitely got the length that I love." The brunette smiles and winks over at the twin.
Unbeknownst to the woman, in sticking up for Jarod, she's now turned Cray off from wanting her tonight. He taps her leg and tells her to get up as he helps her to stand.
"We're done here," my friend says, then calls another woman over, who quickly takes the other woman's place.
The brunette pouts, but when Jarod grins and motions her over, she recovers and happily goes to sit between the twins. They both descend upon her the instant she settles herself.
"Fucking whore," Cray states under his breath, and I smirk.
I look at my watch again, and my frown is back, along with a dreadful feeling. I leave the others while I go in search of my little lamb. Not caring if anyone is inside, I walk into the women's restroom and find only two women inside, who smile flirtatiously at me, but I pay them no mind.
I then find Monica at the hostess stand and ask if she has seen Raya.
She informs me that my little lamb had stopped to talk to her for a moment but then told her she needed to grab something from my car and has yet to return.
Alarm bells begin going off in my head, and all I can think of is that whoever was sending me the messages had gotten to her.
I rush out the door and down to the parking garage, knowing I won't find her there. Just as I thought, the elevator doors open, and I find an empty garage. My car is still parked where I'd left it, with no sign of Raya anywhere.
"Son of a bitch!" I curse out loud as I reach into my pocket and pull out my cell phone .
I hit one number and wait for the other end to pick up.
"What the fuck, Nyx? Where'd you go?" Adrik asks.
"Never mind about that—Raya is gone. We need to watch the video footage to see who took her."
"How do you know someone took her?" he asks, but I already know Adrik is on his way to the surveillance office.
"What do you mean? Where else would she be?"
"Well, maybe she was tired and returned to the Hall," Adrik states.
"No, she wouldn't have left like that without telling me." Would she?
"Okay, if you're sure."
I hear the security guys greeting Adrik as I step off the elevator and head toward him. I hang up without saying another word. Hurrying to the security office, I can't stop the different scenarios that could have happened from popping into my head.
"Go back to when she left my side. I want to see everyone she interacted with," I tell Adrik as I pull my phone back out and try calling Raya's phone.
It goes straight to voice mail. I try going to the app to trace the tracker in her phone, and my brows furrow. The tracker says she's in the bathroom, which I had already checked.
"Are you seeing this?" Adrik asks.
I glance at the screen and freeze. I see red as I watch my little lamb getting into the back seat of an unknown car. She looks back, over her shoulder at the entrance, and then at the camera. Raya gives a look of regret to the camera but still gets into the car.
I punch the nearest wall as I leave the security office and head for the restroom.
I end up tearing the room apart until I dump out the garbage can and find the small tracking device I had put inside her phone under the battery.
Fuck! I knew I should have used the app instead of an actual device, but I never thought she would ever find it.
It's a bitch nowadays to get the backs off phones to get to the battery, but she did it.
I'm unsure whether to be angry or worried.
On the one hand, I'm fuming that Raya would leave by herself, but at the same time, I'm afraid that her little stalker friend will find her before I do.
I hope Adrik is right and she went back to the Hall, so with this in mind, I head back to the parking garage and to my car.
I swipe everything off Raya's dresser in anger.
Anger that she left without telling me, but most of all, anger because she left me .
How dare she leave after everything I've done for her, after everything we had done together?
I thought we were on the same page. This just goes to show that she can't be trusted.
Did she leave because I told her no when she asked about Plan B?
At this point, it doesn't matter. Raya is mine.
I know she feels like I do; she can't fight it.
She ran because she was scared. This thought gave me pause to smile.
Seems my little lamb wants to play, but I don't think she realizes just how determined this lion is.
Nothing—and I mean nothing—will stop me from finding her and bringing her back.
A notification on my phone draws my attention. It's the notification telling me that someone is in Raya and Ken's house, and I now know where the object of my current obsession is at this very moment. A wicked grin grows on my lips, and I head out of Raya's room.
My phone rings just as I'm climbing into my car once again and I see Cale's name pop up. "Yeah," I answer.
"I've got a Lieutenant Austin Giles here at the warehouse," he states, "He's the one that has been sending you messages about Saraya."
"Hold him there. I've got something to do at the moment."
This is a good thing. This means I can take my time in chasing my little lamb, now that the threat to her has been eliminated. I know she still needs to lie low until I can make it all go away, but I no longer have to worry that someone will take her from me.
It takes me only a short time to get to the other side of town, arriving at the house where Raya had lived with Kenneth. I still cringe at that bastard having what should have been mine, but we are past that. Raya is mine now, and nobody else will ever have her.
Shutting my headlights off as I pull into the driveway, I frown. The house looks dark and empty. She's probably making sure not to draw attention to herself. Good girl. At least that's what I think until I unlock the front door with the spare key I had made and find the space completely empty.
I pull my phone out to use the flashlight as I walk through the dark house.
It's not a big house, but it isn't tiny either.
It's a modest size for a cop's salary and an accountant who only worked part-time.
Yeah, I did my homework after Raya showed up on my doorstep.
It seems Raya got demoted to only working so many hours after she went through a string of absences.
They only kept her on because she was good at what she did.
I find the master bedroom and see the closet and dresser have been rummaged through.
The black dress I had her wear tonight lays across her bed.
Fisting it in my hand, I bring it to my nose and take in the floral scent of her perfume, and my dick hardens.
Not wanting to leave the dress behind because she looks stunning in it, I bring it with me as I finish checking the house.
Ken's office is the last room I come to and the only other room that looks like Raya had entered.
A wall safe is wide open, and I'm willing to bet that there was money inside that is no longer there.
I know my little lamb wanted her trust so she could leave and start a new life for herself, and although I wouldn't have had an issue with giving her the money that is rightfully hers, deep down, I didn't want her to leave.
I look inside the safe, knowing that it's been cleaned out but needing to make sure.
I find a few pieces of legal papers and a few watches.
By the looks of it, Raya was in a hurry.
A couple of hundred-dollar bills still lay towards the back, but that's not what has me examining the inside as closely as I am.
I find a hidden compartment in the back of the safe, so I run my hand around until I find the small button to open it.
I find only a couple of flash drives, but they're enough to pique my interest. I pull them from the safe and go to the computer, firing it up immediately.
They are important if these were kept in a secret part of the safe. Let's see what good ole Ken was hiding.
Grunting and moaning fills the room as the sound comes over the speakers.
It's a familiar sound—one that I will never forget.
The sound is embedded into my memory, every moan, cry, and grunt.
The slapping of skin sickens me. I don't need to finish watching this because it's the same video my father showed me.
Inserting the next one, now that my mood has soured tremendously, I no longer want to watch anymore, but I need to see what is on these other drives. For a while, all I see is a view from a camera that Ken wears. I only know this because he showed himself in the mirror .
Fast-forwarding the video, I stop the moment I see Stanton and my father as Ken walks into my father's office. There is a bit of static with the audio, but I can make out my father's voice as he scolds Ken.
"It's about fucking time you get here. Are you sure this is what you want? It's not every day you get to fuck a virgin."
I jerk at my father's words and turn the volume up.
"I don't want a virgin bride. Do what you must if you want me to marry her," Ken's voice comes over the video.
I watch as all three men walk through Nyte's Hall, only stopping once they get to Raya's bedroom door.
What I witness next is not what my father showed me or the video on the first drive.
Raya was fighting for us the whole time.
I try to turn my head away the moment Ken grabs her and holds her down, but I don't. This is my punishment for believing my father over my best friend.
I should have known better; I should have known that Saraya would never betray me like that.
I never once gave her the benefit of the doubt.
The possibility of rape was never in question when I was shown the video of the love of my life betraying me.
I drop to my knees as my eyes remain glued to the screen.
The video was altered; it had to have been.
Nothing about this is consensual. Now, I will punish myself by watching the truth.
Pain slashes through my chest as Stanton tears at Raya's bottoms, and without a care for her condition, drives himself into her while Ken covers her screams with his hand.
I notice my father recording the whole thing in the background, but I still don't understand how I could have thought it was consensual. I have to watch the other video again because I'm missing something.
I'm lost in the tears streaming down Raya's face in the video. Even her nails digging into Stanton's arms don't seem to deter him. Eventually she goes silent and just lays there as Stanton finishes himself off.
She protected me. My little lamb went through hell in order to keep me safe from my own father. I hang my head in shame, and for the first time in I'm not sure how long, I let tears trickle down my cheeks.
"Here, all the evidence is on this video if you ever need it to prove who it was that fucked the little slut. I've already sent it to my phone to alter it and make it look like she enjoyed it all. My son will never forgive her for this betrayal."
My father's voice has me wiping my face and concentrating on what's being said.
Rage fills me when Ken's camera catches my father going to Raya.
At first, I thought he was going to do more of the unthinkable, but thank God all he did was threaten her with it.
I now understand why she didn't come to me, but I still wish she had.
I can no longer blame her. I need to find her, and tell her that I know the truth. I pull the flash drive out and hurry from the house, not caring if I leave the computer on or the place unlocked. My only concern is finding Raya before I lose her for good.